CORTO.ALTO

For the best part of the last decade, Dumfries-born, Glasgow-raised Liam Shortall, aka corto.alto, has been in his home studio in the Southside of the Scottish city, cooking up frenetic improvisations, diligently wonky productions and genre-spanning compositions with a close-knit group of local collaborators. His freeform, irrepressible sound earned him a Mercury Music Prize nomination for 2023’s debut album Bad With Names and the AIM Award for Breakthrough Artist in 2025.

In the last 3 years, the band has played over 200 shows across the world, building a solid reputation for being one of the best live bands around, creating a powerful blend of tight musicianship, heavy use of samples & sound design, and a constant willingness to take live music into club culture territory.

Now signed to tastmaker label Ninja Tune as a refletion of his explotary attittude, Shortall is returning with his third album, SOME SMALL FORTUNE, his most expansive and unpredictably exciting work, enlisting new collaborators like Chicago rapper Mick Jenkins and British alternative musician BINA as well as Scottish singer-songwriter Jacob Alon, alongside his longtime Glaswegian band to produce an electronic, hip-hop, pop and indie-influenced record that extends far beyond the confines of its meticulous making.

“This record is dedicated to memory, nostalgia and being grateful for what I have, even if as I get older the past becomes unreliable. It’s an expression of me feeling free to prioritise the moment, no matter what it brings.”

Following on from an exceptional KEXP session, and strong support from 6 Music across the campaign, The band will take SOME SOME FORTUNE on the road across the UK, EU, Asia and the US at the end of 2026 and early 2027, for their biggest tour to date.

Armed with his journeying, excitingly indefinable music, Shortall is ready to take corto.alto from that Glasgow room to the world.